The Singer Trilogy by Calvin Miller
"The Singer Trilogy" by Calvin Miller is an allegorical retelling that parallels the life of Jesus Christ and the early Christian church, set within a fantastical narrative landscape. Comprising three parts—"The Singer," "The Song," and "The Finale"—Miller's work transforms biblical themes into a unique fantasy context, where characters and events reflect figures and actions from the New Testament. The protagonist, known as the Singer, embodies the essence of Christ, undertaking a journey that includes healing, teaching, and eventually facing betrayal and death, reminiscent of the Gospels.
In "The Song," the narrative explores the struggles between the Singerians and their antagonist, the World Hater, highlighting themes of awakening and false enlightenment. Through encounters with various characters, such as Everyman and Praxis, the story addresses the conflict between spiritual knowledge and the allure of worldly pursuits, including science and power. The trilogy culminates in "The Finale," which envisions a future battle between good and evil, with the Singer ultimately promising hope and renewal in the face of despair.
Overall, Miller’s trilogy invites readers to engage with profound questions about faith, redemption, and the nature of truth within a richly constructed allegorical framework, making it a thought-provoking exploration of the human condition through a Christian lens.
The Singer Trilogy by Calvin Miller
First published:The Singer, 1975; The Song, 1977; The Finale, 1979; trilogy, 1990. Downers Grove, Ill.: InterVarsity Press
Genre(s): Poetry
Subgenre(s): Allegory; fantasy; narrative poetry
Core issue(s): Awakening; cause universal; good vs. evil; Jesus Christ; knowledge; revelation
Principal characters
Singer , the Christ figureWorld Hater , the Satan figureThe Singer’s Mother Crippled Girl , Singer’s discipleFriendship Seller , Singer’s discipleMadman , Singer’s disciple, who founds the Singerian religionEveryman , a student turned SingerianPraxis the Builder , a temple designer for Urbis and a late converter to the Singerian religionDreamer , a Singerian with the final revelation at the end of TerraAnsond , the leader of the army of the SingerElan , the ruler of Ellanor, the capital of the world, and the Antichrist Figure
Overview
In The Singer Trilogy, Calvin Miller allegorizes the life of Jesus Christ, the struggles of the Christian church, and the future promise of rebirth in an alien world where the names are different but the motivations are similar to those found in the New Testament. Each character and each event mirrors a New Testament person or action. The Singer is much like the four Gospels, The Song partly mirrors the book of Acts, and The Finale skips ahead to an apocalyptic ending akin to the book of Revelation.
The Singer recounts the life of a young Tradesman who fights his real nature as the Troubadour or Singer who created the universe by his words. The events of the Gospels are collapsed, though John’s ideas of transcendence and the fight between good and evil have a strong influence on this book. Throughout, Miller changes characters’ names to reflect their new roles and new spiritual and emotional levels of consciousness.
The Singer encounters the World Hater multiple times as he travels, singing the Star-Song and healing the minds and bodies of those he encounters—if they wish to change and believe it is possible—including a crippled girl and a prostitute. In a retelling of the Sermon on the Mount, he sings the Hillside Song, which is rejected by his listeners, who want other ways to overcome the Canyon of the Damned, the World Hater’s realm.
In a move reminiscent of Jesus’ journey to Jerusalem, the Singer goes to the Great Walled City of the Ancient King, whose people practice the old, traditional religion. There he frees the Madman, who becomes his final disciple, and together they stir up a crowd. Their victory is short-lived, because the Singer has never sung the Star-Song in its entirety, and the last stanza angers the Musicians of the old religion, who with the crowd that has become enraptured by their traditions, seize, mutilate, and then kill the Singer on the Great Machine of Death, which resembles a torture rack. In the end, the Singer’s Mother and the Friendship Seller go to comfort the Madman while the Singer rises and brings the Crippled Girl to them.
The Song is about the battle between the World Hater and those who hear, embrace, and try to pass on the Star-Song in a fashion similar to the acts of the Apostles. As the Madman is changed into Anthem, founder of the Singerian religion, via a Holy Spirit entity called the Invader, the World Hater renames himself Sarkon and reinvents a nature religion to compete for the hearts of the people.
After Anthem speaks to a crowd in the marketplace, the Invader enters hundreds of people in a way similar to Pentecost (Acts 2). Unlike the Bible, however, The Song makes a strong attack against science, which Sarkon claims he will use to distract people from the Star-Song. Sarkon’s first target is Everyman, who is studying science, philosophy, religion, and other matters purely from texts. Initially Everyman is enticed by the lure of not thinking but instead relying on science while indulging his bodily desires. Eventually, Sarkon’s lies are revealed through the use of the Singer’s name, and Everyman rejects science to embrace the new religion.
At this point, Sarkon uses more trickery to arouse the city crowds to attack the Singerians. Given a vision, Anthem and Everyman leave the Great Walled City and head to Urbis, the capital of the world, which calls to mind Paul’s going to Rome to preach. Along the way, they meet and speak to Praxis the Builder, who enjoys the thought of the Singer but cannot abandon his traditional deities, so he re-creates the story into a more acceptable variation including other gods and grand temples, something that Sarkon grabs onto eagerly.
The Song then turns into an allegory of the early centuries of the Christian Church as persecutions and corruptions of the story of the Singer occur. The most prominent event is the persecution of the Singerians, reminiscent of the short-lived attempt by Nero to blame Rome’s burning on the Christians. Among the imprisoned Singerians, an apocalyptic story, appropriately called “The Finale,” circulates; it claims they will overcome Sarkon and his forces of death.
Miller closes his allegorical poem with The Finale, set far in the future, where science and technology are everyday facts of life while the ideas of the Singerians are widespread. The inhabitants either seem to know they are killing their world through pollution and technology but console themselves with ideas of the coming of the Singer, or they do not believe their world will be destroyed. Dreamer is one of these Singerians who works in the deadly ore mines and just tells himself that he must. The radiation he is exposed to creates visions that comfort him, and he begins actively seeking them out.
These visions, which may be thought of as an allegory to the book of Revelation, foretell of a great war between the Singer and the World Hater, who now calls himself the Prince of Mirrors. However, as Dreamer has these visions, they come true in the world around him. Elan, the greatest king, uses his small army of dragons to subjugate the rest of the world while the Prince of Mirrors corrupts their minds by issuing the Mark of Elan, which has a mirror on it to show the wearer that the only hope of the world is the wearer himself.
In the Lifeland, where the Singer resides with the faithful, there is both dread of and hopeful preparation for this great battle between them and the agents of the World Hater. Things move quickly, and soon the two armies meet in battle, where victory is certain for the Singer. However, to truly defeat the World Hater and keep him from Terra Two (the new world), it takes the might of the Singer’s forces and the newly enlightened Dreamer, renamed Avenger, to capture him and imprison him in Terra One forever.
Christian Themes
Throughout the trilogy, those who become Singerians are shown to undergo an awakening to their negative selves so that they can embrace the Star-Song fully. These negative selves are searching for meaning and connection because they feel lonely and separated from the world, other people, and the forces of Good. Those who reject the Singer, though, instead undergo a false awakening to their desire for power and their ability to manipulate and harm others. In the first two poems hope is offered to even those with the false awakening so that someone like Praxis the Builder can repent before the end of his life.
While the Singer Trilogy is partly an allegory of the New Testament, early Christianity, and apocalyptic beliefs, Miller’s use of this fantasy setting makes the message of separation from God and other people a universal problem. At a few points there are even mentions of other worlds and other galaxies whose people struggle with the question of self-awareness and join the battle between good and evil. These internal battles that the Madman, Praxis, and the Dreamer fight lead to an external war with those who cannot stand to hear the Star-Song.
The Singerians have one form of knowledge, based on self-awakening and the battle between good and evil. Their knowledge is shown as superior to the second type of knowledge, science, discussed at length in the second and third books. Everyman’s reading and the earth-destroying technology of Elan are merely references to this inferior knowledge. Miller’s poem states quite clearly on several occasions that science is false knowledge; it is so false that not even the World Hater uses it but instead relies on appealing to desires for power and physical pleasure in those he corrupts.
All the Singerians are awakened through their exposure to and acceptance of the Singer, who is clearly the Jesus Christ figure of the poem. The two journeys are wonderfully parallel in action, motivation, and even words. In some ways the Singer is even stronger, because once he accepts who he is, he can feel sorrow for what is happening around him, but he never doubts his role and what he must do.
A revelation is the unveiling of secrets or hidden plans, and there are multiple revelations throughout the Singer Trilogy. The Singer’s life—present, past, and future—are revealed to him, and he shares this knowledge with those who awaken. Those Singerians who are persecuted in the second and third books receive hope in the form of “The Finale,” which is a revelation that their suffering will end and that the Singer will be triumphant. Before and during this ultimate battle, Dreamer also has visions that reveal to him why it is happening and what is occurring that he cannot see with his eyes.
Sources for Further Study
Blodgett, Jan. Protestant Evangelical Literary Culture and Contemporary Society. Westport, Conn.: Greenwood Press, 1997. Calls The Singer Trilogy the most successful Christian fantasy work of the modern era and discusses several of its themes.
Miller, Calvin. Covenant for All Seasons: The Marriage Journey. Rev. ed. Wheaton, Ill.: H. Shaw, 1995. The story of the courtship between Calvin Miller and his wife, Barbara. Contains many biographical details.
Miller, Calvin. Jesus Loves Me: Celebrating the Profound Truths of a Simple Hymn. New York: Warner Books, 2002. Miller’s book focuses on music as a way to spread the message of Christianity. Provides insight into his use of song and poetry.
Mort, John. Christian Fiction: A Guide to the Genre. Greenwood, Conn.: Libraries Unlimited, 2002. Discusses several trends in Christian literature and cites examples of several popular fantasy and science fiction books, including The Singer Trilogy.
Szalewski, Susan. “Omaha Pastor’s Works Popular in Bible Belt: ’Humble’ Author Has Few Local Readers.” Omaha World-Herald, July 14, 1989, p. 9. A short profile of Miller looks at his works and life as a pastor.